Top Boy season 3: Where is the Netflix show filmed? Hackney’s locations for the Summerhouse Estate

The final season of Top Boy is set to drop on Netflix, with Ashley Walters and Kane Robinson (Kano) back to reprise their roles as DuShane and Sully amongst other cast members.

The social realist drama, first owned by Channel 4 and now by Netflix, is set in the fictional Summerhouse Estate in Hackney, looks at drug dealing and gang violence in London.

Top Boy’s setting imbues the series with a realism that drives home the reality of life in a London estate.

Season 5 will see the main characters be tested in a final chapter that will decide who can reign as Top Boy of Summerhouse.

We’ve taken a look at some of the filming locations in London used for the iconic series.

Where was Top Boy filmed?

Most of the action in Top Boy takes place in the fictional Summerhouse Estate in east London.

When the show was owned by Channel 4, the famous Heygate Estate in Elephant and Castle was the shoot location for the fictional setting.

However, a year after Channel 4 cancelled the show, the estate was knocked down to build a new development.

This meant when Netflix took over the show in 2019, a new stand-in for Summerhouse was needed.

Samuda Estate, a 1960s estate in the Isle of Dogs, east London was chosen for the new site and can be seen as the main setting in seasons three and four of the show

Some interior shooting took place in locals’ flats on the estate itself.

Similar scenes have been shot on the De Beauvoir estate in Hackney (reportedly the basis for Summerhouse), while locations in Haggerston, Dalston and Newham have also been used,

Which other locations was Top Boy filmed?

Other London settings seen throughout the series include Walworth Academy in Southwark, which was used for the show’s school scenes, and Whipps Cross Hospital in Leytonstone.

The main market setting that we see Jaq, Kieron and the rest of the gang hang out at and deal drugs in is Ridley Road Market in Dalston, while the iconic Number One Cafe is very much a real, functioning cafe of the same name - which can be found in London Fields.

A bench in the Old English Garden in Victoria Park is used for the three orphaned brothers Jamie (Micheal Ward) and his brothers Aaron (Hope Ikpoku Jnr) and Stefan (Araloyin Oshunremi) go to sit on and talk to their deceased parents.

One of the more glamorous settings to feature in Top Boy, is the Valmont Club in Chelsea.

While in reality, the club has closed down, in the show characters meet there to enjoy a few drinks and to talk business.

Much of season 3 of Top Boy took place outside London, as Sully begins dealing in Ramsgate after being released from prison.

The Rose and England pub and railway station in Ramsgate are both seen in the third season, whilst beach scenes were shot in Margate at Walpole Bay and Fulsam Rock.

In the fourth season, the series went even more global, with locations including Morocco and Spain used to show the full breadth of the drug trade.

The official tagline for the season read: "This time it’s bigger than just Summerhouse. Loyalty before everything."

But this time around, with season 5, there’s a fitting return to Summerhouse, the estate where it began for Sully and Dushane - and where fans will have to bid farewell to the show.

Top Boy season 5 will be released on Netflix on Thursday September 7, with previous seasons available to stream now on Netflix.